Sir sees 3x3 basketball as ‘a legacy project’
Nearer the end than the beginning of a career spent playing and serving the game he loves, Paul Sir will now boldly take Canada Basketball where Alberta has already gone: the forefront of 3x3 development.
“At this stage of my life and career, I really want this to be a legacy project,” said Sir, a former NCAA and professional five-onfive player who has championed the 3x3 game for a decade.
The Iowa native lives in Edmonton and has been the Alberta Basketball Association’s executive director since 2008.
Last month he added the role of Canada Basketball’s managing director of 3x3 development to his considerable resume.
“I’d love to see national and international success for this sport, and here is my primary motivation; 3x3 is great for everybody,” said Sir.
“It is better for everybody than five-on-five because everybody has to dribble, pass and shoot, and you can’t hide. So for kids learning the game or anybody playing the game, the emphasis isn’t on running up and down the court, it isn’t on making sure the ball is in the hands of one person all the time. For kids who like basketball but are intimidated by a full-court game, this is much easier.
“And every adult over 35 should play 3x3. There is nothing uglier than a bunch of 45-yearold men running up and down the court.”
Sir is embarking on what could be a three-year initiative to build a national 3x3 development strategy from the ground up; to serve school kids at one end and Olympians at the other. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he’s doing it from his home in Edmonton, with help on the administrative side from one Ontario-based Canada Basketball staffer, Uday Saluja.
Sir said he fortunately hasn’t had to hit the ground running, organizing tournaments at a time when he can instead build relationships and a solid foundation of developmental resources for each province and territory, each potential organizing committee,
school and community group.
He has been tasked by Canada Basketball with developing school programs, a logical hierarchy of local, provincial and national championship tournaments, and a sanctioning program that will help organizers host Fiba-sanctioned events like the World Tour Masters, Challengers and Women’s Series.
He will also be part of the high-performance group responsible for selecting national teams and Olympic qualifiers, and will foster the growth of Canada Basketball’s relationship with Red Bull, which provides financial support for 3x3 activities in Canada.
“Really, we’re starting from scratch on the national initiative. Anything that’s been done has been centred on a few events in Canada, as opposed to a national strategy. So I’m trying to use the downtime, with the lack of competition, to put some structures and programs in place, then have a vision built out,” Sir said.
“I’m starting discussions with all the provinces to get them more engaged and involved, like we have been (in Alberta) for the last 10 years.
“I feel the experience we’ve had in Alberta, we can duplicate to a large extent on a national level because it has been through the provincial sports organization, the ABA. So it’s not like it’s a private promoter or a local organizing committee just putting on events. Rather, we’ve been able to look at how 3x3 fits into an overall basketball strategy in the province. We’ve been working at that for a number of years and there are lessons we can learn.”
He anticipates each province and territory will embrace 3x3, but support for programming and tournaments will vary.
He’s also studying developmental procedures in the Netherlands, Mongolia and Australia, casting a wide net in search of what works.
Canada Basketball president Glen Grunwald put the future of the 3x3 game in Sir’s hands, and it was the right call. Sir is determined to make the best of the opportunity.